He has already dipped his toe into the market for younger fashion, but Mark Newton-Jones is clearly not going to stop there. The former boss of Shop Direct, who only recently became a non-executive director at the youth-focused Boohoo.com, has been appointed interim chief executive of Mothercare.

Mr Newton-Jones succeeds Simon Calver, who resigned last month less than two years into the turnaround of the business. Mr Calver will leave at the end of the month after a handover period. Mr Newton-Jones begins on Monday.

The new man will not be formally appointed to the board. Mothercare declined to disclose